


And Then the World is Beautiful

by moonrise31



Series: once, twice, and again until it's over [8]
Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, but the good news is there's way less drama, love is nahyo, slightly inspired by the newsroom, what is love you ask
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 13:47:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14333751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonrise31/pseuds/moonrise31
Summary: In which Jihyo realizes that sometimes, the answer is right in front of her -- and has been waiting for her all along.(Spoiler: the answer is Im Nayeon.)





	And Then the World is Beautiful

"Back to you in thirty seconds," Jihyo tells Nayeon from the production room. She's facing a wall completely filled with screens -- correspondents from Incheon and Jeju as well as several eyewitnesses their on-site reporters have managed to chase down, the ten seconds of grainy footage that all the stations are broadcasting from the scene of the accident -- but Jihyo keeps her eyes fixed on the screen with a news desk in the center and Nayeon sitting behind it.

"I know," Nayeon says mildly, shuffling the papers in front of her and tapping them against the desktop. She brings her hand up to nudge at her earpiece -- a bad habit Jihyo keeps telling her to get rid of, and the same one she only seems to miraculously drop while on the air. "Any updates on the numbers?"

Jihyo adjusts her headset microphone so it sits closer to her mouth. "Still the same. It's been forty minutes since the Coast Guard got there. Survivor count is above fifty, but there were four hundred forty-three passengers on board, and thirty-three crew members."

JIhyo watches Nayeon's lips press together, only a thin line of pixels on the screen in front of her -- these numbers aren't new, but they haven't become any less distressing with time. 

The production room door suddenly slams open, and Momo rushes in to shove a piece of paper into her hands. Jihyo barely glances at the print on it before looking up again. "You're on in ten," she says. "Our hour's up. Exact survivor count is now sixty-four. Blink twice if you got that." 

Nayeon blinks four times. Jihyo rolls her eyes. And then the camera is rolling, too.

Nayeon, of course, doesn't miss a beat. "And that is the update from Byeongpungdo, just 2.7 kilometers from where the Sewol ferry began to sink over an hour ago. We will continue with live updates from the scene through our website." She pauses, gaze weakening as her microphone barely picks up her next words. "So far, sixty-four survivors have been rescued from the ferry. We can only hope that the figure will keep increasing." 

"Nayeon," Jihyo says gently.

Nayeon clears her throat, straightens and pulls back her shoulders. "That will be all from us for now. Thank you, and good night."

"And we're out." Jihyo slips the headset off. She lets it hang around her neck as she releases a long exhale. The room is muffled by the shuffling of her crew members doing the same. They exit among murmurs of jobs well done and dampened smiles, leaving Jihyo with her arms crossed in the leftover quiet, staring at a wall of blank screens.

There's a knock at the door just before it opens again. Nayeon peeks in. "Hey."

Jihyo turns. "Hey."

Nayeon doesn't try to offer a smile. Instead, she holds up a bottle. "My office?"

"Your office," Jihyo agrees, and lets her arms slide out of the knot in front of her chest.

The bottle, of course, is only filled with mineral water -- as always. Jihyo suspects Nayeon would normally prefer something with a higher alcohol content, but mineral water is snobby enough for her purposes, and doesn't threaten any aftermath worse than an extra trip to the restroom later on.

Although to be fair, the snobbery is more or less canceled out either way, because Nayeon only serves the mineral water in awkwardly large coffee mugs with tacky phrases like "IM #1" printed on the side.

(She always gives Jihyo the “AMEN” mug -- the one she claims she got at Sunday school when she was young. Jihyo thinks Nayeon just gets a kick out of annoying her executive producer by answering, “Whatever you say, god,” whenever Jihyo tries to brief her through her earpiece during commercial breaks.

But, well, if it's really something Nayeon's kept all this time, it'd be bad form on Jihyo's part to reject it.)

"Heavy stuff today, huh?" Nayeon holds out Jihyo's filled mug as the younger woman takes a seat across from her. 

"It's already a tragedy," Jihyo says. "And we know it's only going to get worse."

Nayeon just nods. Then she raises her mug. "One show at a time, okay?"

A smile tugs lightly at Jihyo's lips. She clinks their cups together. "Okay." 

"That was a pretty last-minute update on the survivor count, by the way," Nayeon says after several sips in the ensuing silence. "Momo came through again, didn't she?"

"She always does." Jihyo raises her eyebrows, shooting Nayeon a sly stare over the rim of her mug. "Careful about what you say around here, though. Half the team thinks you actually have a crush on her."

"Please," Nayeon scoffs. "If I want to platonically tell Momo that her glasses look good, I'll platonically tell Momo that her glasses look good. Anyway, there wouldn't be any reason for me to flirt with her in the first place since she's already going out with Mina."

"That would indeed be a horrible thing to do," Jihyo agrees.

Nayeon frowns. "You don't think I'd ever do something like that, right?" Her eyes widen before Jihyo can reply. "Oh no. _Mina_ wouldn't think I'd ever do something like that, right?" She sets her mug down and slaps both palms against her cheeks. "This face can't make half as much money as it usually does if it's beaten beyond recognition."

"Don't let all the bubbly water get to your head, you grandma," Jihyo laughs, reaching for the now half-empty bottle perched on the only cleared corner of Nayeon's desk. "Mina isn't really the violent type. You know that she once apologized for dropping a pen, right? And to the pen, no less."

"You obviously haven't played her in air hockey," Nayeon says solemnly. "That woman can be vicious if she wants to be." She sighs and sinks even further into her chair. "Momo isn't my type, anyway."

"Who's your type, then?" Jihyo asks without thinking, because she just has the habit now of following up on every piece of information reported to her -- dangers of the job, it seems.

Nayeon hums into her mug before lowering it. "Probably someone hot." 

"How introspective of you," Jihyo deadpans.

"But they should also be cute," Nayeon continues as if Jihyo hadn't spoken. "Like, big eyes?" She nods. "I like big eyes."

Jihyo winks at her. "Big _eyes_ are what's important, sure."

" _And_ ," Nayeon says with a glare, which would look more intimidating if the last time Jihyo had seen that expression wasn't when Nayeon had answered her apartment door with a facemask on and a bright green towel wrapped around her head, "someone smart, you know. Not just with facts or whatever shit they teach us in school, but like, smart with people, too."

"Sure," Jihyo says amiably, leaning back to tip the last of her mineral water into her mouth.

Nayeon watches carefully, and says just before Jihyo's able to swallow, "That way, it's a guarantee they'll be able to appreciate me and how wonderfully amazing I truly am."

Jihyo chokes. She pitches forward, slamming the mug down on one of the many stacks of paper littered on Nayeon's desk. "I hate you," she gasps over the the peals of Nayeon's laughter, even as they ring in the early hours of the morning before sunrise.

-

It hits Jihyo before lunch the next day, in the middle of her brainstorming session with her associate producers. She's professional, of course, and waits until everyone's picked a story to pursue for that night's show and filed out of the conference room. Then she grabs Momo's arm before the door swings shut. 

"What's up, boss?" Momo asks brightly, bringing up a knuckle to nudge her glasses back into place. 

"It's Sana," Jihyo says in a low voice. Momo only blinks owlishly at her, so her tone drops to an urgent whisper. "Minatozaki Sana. Nayeon likes _Sana_!"

"Uh," says Momo. "What?"

"Sana fits her type exactly." Jihyo grins. "Smart with people, but also one of the top meteorologists in the country. She's got big eyes and is super attractive, at least until you actually get to know her, at which point it's cancelled out by whenever she does the dumb 'cheese kimbap' aegyo that Nayeon for some inexplicable reason seems to like." Jihyo stops to take a breath. "So it makes sense."

"Right..." says Momo, drawing out the word. "But have they even talked that much? I mean, we all know each other, but Sana mostly hangs out with me or you or Mina when she's not hitting on interns, and I definitely haven't seen her hang out with Nayeon-unnie by herself."

Jihyo points a triumphant finger in Momo's direction. "Exactly. We've worked with the two of them for how many years now? And neither is even the slightest bit shy, but they always get weird and giggly with each other when we all go to the bar on weekends, or the few times Mina's invited us all over to her house for a get-together."

"More like her _mansion_ ," Momo murmurs. "I honestly didn't know sportscasters could be so loaded."

"You totally did," Jihyo corrects her. "You're just a gold digger." Momo nods in eager agreement, and Jihyo laughs before continuing. "My _point_ is, we could be onto something here."

"Okay." Momo shrugs. "Let's say they like each other. So what?"

" _So_ , we should _do_ something about it," Jihyo declares. Her heart pounds against her chest, pushing blood to her ears and flushing them red like when she knows she's on the brink of breaking the next big story.

"That's what this is," Jihyo muses out loud. "The next big story." She fixes Momo with an exhilarated grin. "What do you say?"

Momo laughs. "Sure, why not?"

"Brilliant," Jihyo says, wide smile still pulling at her cheeks. It hurts a little, but that's to be expected. "This will be absolutely brilliant." 

-

"This is stupid."

Jihyo gapes. "What?"

"Sorry," Mina says. "Let me rephrase that." She clears her throat, and then with a volume only two decibels louder, tells Jihyo, "I don't think this is going to work."

"Why do you say that, Minari?" Momo's sitting next to Mina at the break room table, with Jihyo across from them. Momo takes the opportunity to lean over and rest her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. "Maybe Sana _does_ like Nayeon-unnie."

"Sana-unnie likes everyone," Mina answers simply. "That's not the problem here."

Jihyo throws her hands up. "Then what is?"

Mina only raises an eyebrow.

Jihyo huffs, because only Mina could say so much with just the twitch of what probably amounts to a singular muscle. Jihyo is nothing if not persistent, though, elbows sliding along the table as she leans forward. "Look, help me out this once, okay? If I'm right, great. If I'm not right, then..."

"Then?" Mina prompts.

Jihyo coughs. "Then we'll cross that bridge if we come to it." She manages another convincing smile. "So, are you in?"

Mina sighs, probably -- Jihyo can only assume so because of how the stray lock of hair in front of the other woman's face flutters a little. "Jihyo, are you really sure about this?"

"Wait," Momo cuts in with a frown before Jihyo can even begin to contemplate an answer. "So you don't think that Sana and Nayeon-unnie actually like each other? At least, anything past how much Sana usually likes people?"

"Well," says Mina with a shrug, "maybe I'm wrong." She tilts her head, making sure that Jihyo meets her gaze. "This is absolutely what you want?"

Jihyo tries not to blink as she smiles. "Absolutely." 

"Hey."

Jihyo jumps, but manages to not knock over the coffee cup in front of her. She turns in her seat to narrow her eyes at Nayeon. "Since when did you start coming down to the break room? I thought you didn't mingle with us common folk."

"Just because you're common doesn't mean you're horrible company," Nayeon sniffs, tossing her hair over one shoulder. "And you guys look like a bunch of teenagers who just got caught gossiping, so that immediately piques my interest." She slides into the seat next to Jihyo, bumping into the younger woman's shoulder before righting herself in the chair. "So, spill. And please, spare no embarrassing detail."

Momo blinks. "Well -- "

"You like Sana, right?" Jihyo blurts.

Nayeon turns slowly, and then stares at her. "What makes you think that?"

"Because," Jihyo scoffs, glancing away -- which could be a mistake, since Mina is sitting directly across, and the latter's stare is no less intense, "she's totally your type."

"Oh." A few seconds pass, and then Nayeon leans back in her chair. "Oh. Yeah." She shrugs. "I guess she is."

Jihyo feels something lift from her shoulders, but it's almost like too much weight has been removed -- like she's overcompensating to hide the fact that she'd been carrying anything at all. Still, she grins. "Great. Okay, so I've got this idea. Next week is the company social, right?" 

"Right," says Nayeon.

" _So_ ," Jihyo clears her throat, "you could make your move then. We'll even help you prepare beforehand -- you know, look nice and well put together and entirely date-able."

Nayeon looks at the two on the other side of the table. "We?" 

Momo smiles brightly, and Mina offers the slightest of nods.

"It won't be a huge makeover or anything," Jihyo tells her. "Just some touch-ups, and also making sure you don't ever wear jeans on jeans again."

"That was _one_ time, and only because I lost that bet -- " 

"What do you think?" Jihyo finishes.

Nayeon stares at Jihyo, gaze shuttered in a way Jihyo hasn't seen before. "You really think it would work?"

"Of course," Jihyo declares bravely, crossing her arms. " _I_ won't even be able to resist you by the time we're done."

"Oh." A flicker and the shutters are gone again, leaving Nayeon's eyes to twinkle like freshly unearthed diamonds. "I suppose that's an offer I can't refuse."

Jihyo wonders if she can roll her eyes hard enough to push back any thoughts she really shouldn't be having. "Alright, good. That's done, then."

"It's done," Nayeon agrees easily.

Momo's jaw suddenly falls open as the proverbial bag of bricks is dropped on her, and Mina cuts off her gasp of realization with a gentle nudge. Momo immediately leans over to whisper into Mina's ear.

Nayeon, for her part, remains oblivious to the sudden exchange because she's busy stealing Jihyo's leftover coffee. And Jihyo reliably turns to protest, just so she can pretend that she doesn't see Mina look straight at her before nodding in answer to Momo's question.

-

Approximately thirty minutes before the social, however, it drops on Jihyo, too.

Momo has just finished straightening Nayeon's hair -- not that the slight waviness has ever bothered Jihyo (and it should never bother anyone). But Nayeon doesn't do it often, so Jihyo can't be blamed for the large amount of air her lungs suddenly require. 

And then Mina comes in with the dress (almost white, but still pink -- subtle in a way people don't realize Nayeon can be sometimes. Like how everyone says she's got the voice of a news anchor even in casual conversation; but when she's off the air, it's easy for Jihyo to tell that Nayeon talks with a little less urgency, as if she'd give you the time of day and her corresponding attention, too). 

Basically, the dress is objectively pretty and so is Nayeon, and Jihyo already knows how _perfect_ Nayeon and her straightened hair and the lightest dusting of blush will look -- 

" _Fuck_ ," Jihyo whispers, voice strained. Because Im Nayeon apparently hits with the force of a metric ton of bricks.

Mina has gone into the other room to help Nayeon change, so it's Momo who hears it. She pats Jihyo on the shoulder. "It's okay, you know. And it's really not too late."

Jihyo laughs, short and desperate. "You and I both know that it _is_ too late. She likes Sana, probably, and I -- I mean, I'm her executive producer, in either case." She squeezes her eyes shut and drags her palm slowly down her face, past her nose, her heavy exhale gusting against clammy skin. "The show comes first."

"I don't think those are mutually exclusive." Momo pouts at the look Jihyo gives her. "What? I know all sorts of smart-sounding phrases besides that one." She reaches up to pat Jihyo's head. "Anyway, don't worry. Minari and I already have a backup plan."

Jihyo blinks. "Backup plan?" But then Nayeon is standing in the bathroom doorway, and Jihyo decides that the good thing about having her breath taken away again is that she won't be able to curse out loud, this time.

Mina and Momo keep the atmosphere light throughout the entire car ride to the social. And Jihyo does feel bad for making Mina speak at least three times as much as she usually does whenever she's not providing football commentary for the sports-enthused masses. But Nayeon pitches in her fair share, too, and it's honestly because the older woman's so into the conversation, constantly leaning into Jihyo as she shifts and gestures and giggles near Jihyo's ear, that Sana's first comment after she meets them at the venue and pats Jihyo's reddened cheeks is, "Looks like someone's started the party a few drinks early."

"I'm fine," Jihyo mutters. "It was just really warm in the car." She gives Momo and Mina a glance, and the couple takes their cue to slip further into the crowd, Mina's arm draped comfortably around Momo's shoulder. Jihyo clears her throat. "I think I'll, uh, go check out the appetizers. You two go ahead without me."

"Oh." Nayeon takes a step closer. "We could all go together? I'm a little hungry, anyway."

Jihyo immediately shakes her head. "No, no, it's fine. Actually, why don't I go grab some food for all of us, and just meet you two back here?"

Nayeon opens her mouth to say something, but stops when Jihyo shoots her a pointed look. She coughs, and then nods. "Right. Okay. Yeah. We'll be here."

Jihyo moves another step away, but then someone grabs her wrist. The grip is tender, but not Nayeon's, so she turns, eyes widening. "Sana?" 

Sana sighs as she lets go of Jihyo and takes a step back. "Mina warned me I might have to do this." Then she brings both of her hands up and settles a palm against the back of each of their heads. Before anyone can blink, she's pushed Jihyo's face into Nayeon's (and Nayeon's into Jihyo's, because Sana is nothing if not an equal opportunist).

It's more a crash than a kiss, because their noses end up smashing into each other, but Jihyo does feel just the graze of Nayeon's lips. They jerk apart immediately, Jihyo wondering how the world has suddenly dropped away, leaving only Nayeon and how she's staring at Jihyo with eyes shining brighter than unearthed diamonds.

"Always works," the both of them hear Sana chirp, from somewhere that seems very far off. "Have fun, you two! And please, don't be strangers, okay?"

" 'Don't be strangers'?" Jihyo mumbles, tearing her gaze away and anxiously refocusing on a point just under the pendant of Nayeon's left earring. "We've known each other for years."

"That might not have been exactly what she meant," Nayeon chuckles. She pauses, and then leans in cautiously this time. "Hey." Jihyo lets her get close enough so her next question tingles quietly against the corner of Jihyo's mouth. "Can we try that again?" 

Jihyo tilts her chin up the last half-degree before she can remember all the reasons she shouldn't. The next thing she knows is the faint cloud of Nayeon's perfume (apricot? pineapple? Jihyo forgets which exotic fruit this week's theme is, since she'd spent the past three or so hours pointedly trying to ignore it), and a few seconds later a taste of Nayeon's lip gloss slips onto her tongue.

Jihyo's eyes snap open. She jerks back again, ignoring Nayeon's smile and how softly it would sit in Jihyo's chest if her heart wasn't currently trying to hammer a way out of it. "Wait -- we can't -- I mean, you're -- we _work_ together -- "

"Jihyo," Nayeon murmurs. "You know that everything is going to be okay, right?"

And Jihyo, admittedly, would like nothing more than to believe every word Nayeon has just said (and every word that will come after this, too, if Nayeon's as right as Jihyo already knows she is).

Nayeon waits patiently for Jihyo to close the distance this time. And Jihyo does, hand reaching up to thread fingers through Nayeon's carefully straightened hair. Nayeon melts into her a little, arm wrapping around her waist and softening even more.

She kisses Jihyo like she never needs to make another promise.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on Twitter (@moonrise31) about nahyo and all the underappreciated ships -- we shall be co-captains for ALL of them


End file.
